On the Telly (Beechgrove Garden)

An unexpected email arrived on the 14th of June from a researcher who works on BBC’s The Beechgrove Garden. It transpired that someone had pulled out of appearing on the show, and they needed to fill a slot. They had come across the Walled Garden project online via Instagram and this blog and thought the project could be an appropriate alternative focus for this particular segment of their programme.

I agreed, and after a constructive telephone call, we decided that they would come and film on the 25th of June. This seemed like an exciting development for the garden… except I realised quite quickly that the slow spring had been exceptionally non-conducive to showing off the garden’s potential. This was further compounded by the particularly bad weather, including frosts in mid-June! Oh well, too late.

On the 25th, a team of two, Will and Eilish, came to Bamff, and we met in the Walled Garden. After a brief chat and some scouting around, we decided to focus on three locations for the segment: the eastern wall, where a strip of pear trees and companion plants were establishing; the polytunnel; and the Forest Garden. Completely unprepared, I improvised a series of garbled responses to Will’s questions, oddly fawning over self-seeding mustards and other brassicas, and touching various plants of varying levels of interest for them to film close-up. The filming was conducted in an interview format, but only my answers would be heard in the show – to be heavily edited in some way. Soon after the process began, it got very cold, and then it started to rain! Nevertheless, it felt like the session had gone reasonably well, and it was a pleasure to meet Eilish and Will, though I felt somewhat nervous about the result.

Fast forward to late July, and the relevant show aired. My segment was… not as excruciating as it could have been, but still embarrassing, and not quite in keeping with the general vibe of the show! Well, it was acceptable, given the circumstances, and perhaps they’ll return in a few years to see how the garden has evolved – for another round of cold, sweaty interrogation on film!